Foreword
Under Its Generous Dome:
The Collections and Programs of the
American Antiquarian Society
This electronic version of the guide to AAS collections and programs is,
in effect, the third edition of the work that began with publication in
book form in 1987 as The Collections and Programs of the American
Antiquarian Society: A 175th-Anniversary Guide and continued in 1992
with an updated, second edition
paperback complete with a new title, Under Its Generous Dome: The
Collections and Programs of the American Antiquarian Society. The
1992
text has been on the AAS website for some time, but this version
represents a substantial revision and updating of the basic text, and
supplies some digital bells and whistles as wellenough to warrant calling
it the Third Edition, or maybe, since it is digital, Version 3.0.
Being digital, this electronic guidebook to AAS is not now nor will it
ever be finished in the same way a printed book is. Version 3.0 includes
new illustrations of many items from the collections described, a variety
of sidebar enhancements, hot links to in-house finding aids and
checklists, additional links to other institutions websites, as well as
comments from scholars who have worked at AAS that highlight the research
value of particular collections. A grid is being developed that will
provide quick access to information about the current cataloging status
of each collection. The electronic Under Its Generous Dome will
continue
to be updated with new sidebars, links, and other enhancements. Version
3.0, in other words, will give way, before too long, to Version 3.1, and
then 3.2, without much further ado. So please continue to watch this
space.
The main title of this guide, Under Its Generous Dome, is a phrase
in the
preface to Esther Forbess Pulitzer Prize-winning book Paul Revere and
the
World He Lived In (1942), part of her acknowledgment of the great help
that the AAS library and staff provided her in researching and writing the
book. The AAS staff in the decades since Esther Forbes labored in our
domed, Palladian reading room have continued and enriched the tradition of
providing generous assistance to researchers who come to work here. This
digital version is meant to be an invitation to researchers everywhere to
explore the riches of the Society's collections and the generously offered
services of its staff.
Joanne Chaison, AAS research librarian, and Caroline Stoffel, online
services librarian, oversaw the project and served as editors of the
work. Many AAS staff members worked diligently to update collection and
program descriptions, building on the work of colleagues dating back to
the first edition. The editors are grateful to all of them and also to
Terri Tremblay, assistant curator of graphic arts, for her assistance in
scanning numerous materials.
John B. Hench
Vice President for Collections and Programs
September 21, 2002
|
|
